vB News CMS

[davidw]

Built on the foundation of the 3.6 version (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=133302), I've rewritten a lot of code and added a few things.

What does this do? It allows you to take your news from your news forums (up to 9 news forums) and display them in a category-style fashion with the ability to add new content, reply to the original story, send to a friend, and print.

Install Instructions

Located in the zipped readme.txt file.

New Features
- Allow usergroups to be able to add/reply to news/content.
- Give the ability to show archives (more than the initial x amount on the vbnews page). The archive page shows only the news/content for that specific forum and is however many you decide.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the forumid?
The forumid is the id of the forum you have created. Each forum has its own unique number assigned to it. When you click on a forum link you can see a number that is assigned to it. This will show up in the URL of the page you are browsing. Another way of seeing the forumid is to go to your admin control panel => Forums & Moderators => Forum Manager => Click on [Expand All] and then move your mouse over (hover) any of the forums you've created. Your status bar (bottom of screen) should display your forumid (number at the end of the link/url).

What if I don't like the archive name for the forum?
.../archives.php?&do=forum1
you can change this only in the vbnews.php file
Find each instance of
$archivetext = 'forum1';
and change the forum1 to whatever you want it to say, but keep in mind that you will want to ensure each one is different (just as it is there).


Changes

none for 3.7


See screenshots for how it works. Sorry, no demo available at the moment.

[Zaiaku]

Looks good will have to give this a test to see how much I could use this.

[cygy2k]

Can you add to the description at some point? Thanks!

[davidw]

Added - When I copied the notes from 3.6's version, for some reason I deleted them.

[mktrilogy]

hmm, looks interesting, will give it a shot

[John3971]

just wanna report that when you look at it in internet explorer it won´t show up right it will go far out to the right >>

[davidw]

If for some reason 100% isn't working right, you can change it from fluid to fixed by altering template vbnewscms_articlelist.

Find:
<table align="center" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%">
and change 100% to whatever number you need to (such at 600 or 800)

[John3971]

If for some reason 100% isn't working right, you can change it from fluid to fixed by altering template vbnewscms_articlelist.

Find:
<table align="center" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%">
and change 100% to whatever number you need to (such at 600 or 800)

that does not work i have tried but i figured the problem out and it was nothing like that. you had to add something to the template

[flOid]

Exactly what I needed, tnx! :)

Only two things that I think need improvement:

- the last "read on" link for each section isn't working
- I think it would be a good idea to separate the archive into different pages of X articles, so that all threads of a forum can easily be displayed at a whole, instead of limiting the total number of threads to be displayed in the archive. That would make the mod perfect!

[davidw]

On the first improvement bulletin - I'm not seeing any issues there. What I am seeing however, is that when I click on the last "read on" link - it opens up in the same page as previously last opened page. It reuses that page. Of course, that is on my 3.7 development site with very little mods installed.
On the second issue, can you PM me more details? This could be an option that I could add and update.

[davidw]

I'm working on an update that will give more features for this. In addition to the archives page, the archive page will have pagination and the ability to display results in true archive fashion. If anyone has any requests, let me know.

Heck, I may even throw some RSS functionality in there too - just for the fun of it.

[cosy]

can u add some like "set thread as news"
so u can set threads that are not on that forums and show up on vbnews

[davidw]

This modification won't work like that - although that is a good idea for a future release.

[Brew]

I've been looking for something like this, but this isn't quite "there" yet.

Things like "Featured Article", about this author, special advertisements and stuff like that in side blocks.

I am hoping to have several people who will write articles for the site and it would be nice to have a central location for these important articles to be located at.

Just some ideas for a future version :)

[davidw]

some good ideas

[ishare]

Thank you very much for this very useful addon.
I just want to learn if it is possible to add the thread description just after the thread title.
I've installed the Thread Description (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=131239) hack and it would be wonderful for me, if i could add the thread description after or under the thread title.
Is that possible ? If yes, do you mind if i ask for how ?
Thanks again for all your efforts.

[davidw]

It should be possible, but it would take a little editing. I'd have to look up which variable to pull from the query to find out which one you need.
Don't forget to click install. :)

[ishare]

First of all i would like to thank you again for your kind relation davidw.

I am not sure whether i can do that or not, but i would like to use this modification for the list of the threads on my forum website.

I do have a movie review website and its very necessary to do an interactive list. And your modification is the only way i can do that. (Thats what i guess)

There will be a bar on top of the template which contains letters from A to Z (exactly same as memberlist.php). So when a member click to letter A, it will only list the threads start with A. And with your modification, then maybe i can be able to pull the threads from certain forum categories.

Actually i tried to do some custom edits on some of the templates just to show the thread title instead of the detailed information. And it worked. When i run your vbnews.php, i can get the list of threads (just thread titles) in a custom table. But when i tried to add the thread description, i couldn't do that. And i do all these works with very limited knowledge of php and other very difficult codes.

But ofcourse i have another very important thing to ask you. Do i have the permission of making any custom changes as i mentioned above ? If not, ofcourse i will not do that.

**Sorry because of my English.

[davidw]

Yes, you have permission to make custom changes. All I ask is that you don't re-release the modification.

However, if you like, I can implement some changes (or all) depending on how they pertain to the modification if it can benefit everyone if you like.

[huntrKillr]

hey david, i was wondering if there is a way to update a non-vb page with the latest story and have a read more link to the forum thread automatically. So lets say I have an area on my non-vb template that is allocated for news stories. Can the news stories i post using vbnewsCMS show up on a non-vb page with their brief description and a read on link?

[davidw]

I think two or three members have set the vBNews up on a non-vb page. How to go about doing that - I've not tried that so I don't know specifically, however I do believe it is possible.

[ishare]

Is it possible to sort the threads in alphabetical order instead of listing it from new to old ?
Thanks again for all your efforts Davidw.

[davidw]

However you are able to sort them in the database is how you can sort them using this. This uses a mysql select. So, it could be possible, but I'd have to look later.

[EcoForumZ]

How do I add this to the homepage?

Thanks.

[davidw]

I've granted permission for a CMPS module to be released - so keep a watch out for that.

[EcoForumZ]

I've granted permission for a CMPS module to be released - so keep a watch out for that.

Were you replying to me? If so does that mean there is currently no way to add this to the homepage?

Thanks.

[davidw]

If you are not using the CMPS, then all you would need to do is call the page that it uses - such as set up an iframe and enter the page's information into the iframe.

Curious, exactly what did you have in mind?

[EcoForumZ]

If you are not using the CMPS, then all you would need to do is call the page that it uses - such as set up an iframe and enter the page's information into the iframe.

Curious, exactly what did you have in mind?

I just want to add 3 to 5 news articles to my homepage. Your product looks good I just want to know how to move the news to the homepage.

[Phongvanlau]

Hi David,

is this hack similar to CMPS, Do they see this page (news) as soon as they login?

Thanks

[davidw]

I just want to add 3 to 5 news articles to my homepage. Your product looks good I just want to know how to move the news to the homepage.
Can you PM me a link to your home page so I know how to proceed? It may be easier than I suspect.

Hi David,

is this hack similar to CMPS, Do they see this page (news) as soon as they login?

ThanksIf you are referring to vBAdvanced, they have a News section but a lot of people have suggested they wanted an alternative, which this is one reason I created this. There is a CMPS module coming up that will work as a replacement to the vBAdvanced News module. If you are referring to another CMPS, please specify so I can find out.

[Phongvanlau]

Can you PM me a link to your home page so I know how to proceed? It may be easier than I suspect.

If you are referring to vBAdvanced, they have a News section but a lot of people have suggested they wanted an alternative, which this is one reason I created this. There is a CMPS module coming up that will work as a replacement to the vBAdvanced News module. If you are referring to another CMPS, please specify so I can find out.

I just can't wait for the (new module) to come out.

I just sent you a PM with more info.

Thanks David,

Phong

[Sworm]

Hi all, when i add a new article, it is posted, but firefox have a redirection problem,
is a problem of my forum or is a server problem?

Please help me.

thanks

[davidw]

If you've tested it with IE and it works fine, but has issues with your firefox, try clearing your cookies and your cache and then re-adding your article. What version of firefox is it? It is most likely neither a forum nor a server problem, but potentially could become a problem elsewhere.

If that doesn't clear it up, can you PM me a test user login to your site to sift through what could be the issue?

[aikonch]

Good Idea.....but isn't possible to have the hole text without READON Text? And i use HTML for my news, but here i never see the HTML Code....;(
Also the archives doesn't work.....

[davidw]

You can change the character limit in the admincp options - set it as high as you want. Also, edit your template to remove the readon text. As far as HTML goes, I believe I have stripped HTML out - however if you want HTML that can be altered.

Can you PM me where the archives are not working?

[Robert Waanders]

Hi David,

First, thanks for your effort! I'm thinking of using this mod, but I want place the news on my cmps portal, I've read that there is comming a cmps module. Do you know if that is already available?

Robert Waanders
Modelbouwforum.nl

[davidw]

I have not been told. I was going to be told when it would be ready, but not yet. Permission was given to someone but nothing has been shown to me yet.

[crkgb]

In my case BB-code is not being parsed for some reason. Need a solution ((

[davidw]

If you'll PM me access I'll look into it, sometimes its something simple - it may be tonight before can do anything.

[davidw]

This modification is no longer supported.
This modification has been marked re-usable.

[bartek24m]

it's possible to divie this news on 2 columms

like:
<table>
<tr>
<td>1</td>
<td>2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3</td>
<td>4</td>
</tr>
</table>

[davidw]

It very well could be possible, but not without some heavy tweaking. I think I did something similar a while back for something else but it took some time to change the output.